Friday, August 31, 2007

Another quilt not by me, but truely inspiring. I love how it uses "non-traditional" - as in squares HST's, QST's, rectangles - traditional units. The clam shells, diamonds & I am not sure what those in the sky are called. I am really intrigued by the use of all three especially how the sky unit has a sky feel & those clam shells are perfect for water... Not to mention my love of the scrappiness of it all...

Meanwhile back in my own sewing zone. I recently ran across TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday & decided to adapt it to my self as Take a Stitch Thursday - I am in class on Tuesday nights.) on a couple blogs. I think the original purpose was for hand embroidery stitches, but....

So last night I took a lot of stitches. I machine quilted 3 doll quilts & I am actually quite pleased with the results - they could be better for me that are right up in the "not bad/pretty good" area. I also did some machine applique & I had appliqued 3 labels. Now all I " have" to accomplish this weekend is to apply & finish the bindings. YAY!

Back to the hand embroidery stitches - anyone want to make a crazy quilt block in the shape of a cat appliqued onto a background? (I want one, but I don't really want to do it... My embroidery "sucks" I am too tight with my stitches & I don't want to have to get a lot of floss & ribbons & stuff...) I'd be willing to trade a project or stuff - yardage, charms - make an offer!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Is this quilt not Awesome? It almost makes me want to paper piece... (I did not just type that!) The only thing that I will be paper piecing any time soom is Kaffe Fassett quilt... (The one on the cover of Glorious Patchwork - monochromatic blue instead of his coloration.)

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

(Those lines above, go to Flickr & give credit to the gal who made the EQ version... No idea how they got to be so tiny...)

Take a look at this.... cool huh? Best part, the pattern (& another version for you to look at) is FREE!I officially have to make this quilt - just because of the title - Rhythm & Blues, that is RB's official name. :o)

I think it would be cool if the light brown background shown here were white and the medium brown were black & everything else was scrappy & bright!

This photo is from the county fair, but this quilt was entered into the State fair as well. If I saw this as a pattern, I would possibly buy it - one of those "When in Maryland" urges. Which is why I have a Baltimore Album UFO & why I have a couple Civil War Repro quilts....

Monday, August 27, 2007

I still have not trimmed it or measured it, but it is a top! I hope to photograph it in a hill, so that you can see the whole thing, but we were busy & it rained this past weekend.

How were we busy? Well on Saturday, we went to a "U Pick" farm and picked raspberries, black berries, and blue berries. We were at the very end of the blue berries, but we had a nice time out in nature...

On Sunday, we went to the State fair (I forgot my camera, but I got photos at our county fair - & my husband thought that was better anyway...) We also visited with my grandmother. & ran errands...

After the fair and a grocery run, I made a mixed berry crisp with our "U Pick" bounty. In the "store" for those who don't want to pick their own & as a cooperative agreement with other farms to sell their goods, we got some nice veggies, so I am going to make Libby's tomato pie tonight...

While the crisp was baking, I was able to cut some more interfacing and charms for my circles quilt... :o)

Shelina had a thought provoking post this morning (when I read it) on "being poor." (sorry I am blogging from Flickr, so I can't hyperlink.) but my little addition to the discussion...I bought 4 cases of Coca-Cola at the grocery store at $19.96 - (I am not sure if anyone pays full price, but that is what it would be) I paid $3.96. They were on sale $2.50 each & I had a $1.50 coupon off of each. No sales tax on soda in DC. Does that make me look/act/feel poor? I don't care, I can but a couple yards of fabric with the money I saved, not to mention the saving at buying Coca-Cola for under ten cents each verses seventy-five cents if you are lucky out of a vending machine. (Yes, we drink a lot of soda....)

Friday, August 24, 2007

Cats - 2 living cats This is how they spend their day. Do you see the flannel cat print on that rag quilt?

Cat Charm quilt - 2nd top pieced last night - I still need to trim it & measure it - but it is all in one piece! The other has been done done for a few years.

cat fabrics - far too many to admit to - but I love them & use them.

cat fabrics sub-category -HalloweenNot my favorite holiday, I definately do not like the scary bits... I used to not buy halloween prints, but the cat charm quilt told me that I needed to buy Halloween prints fo rthe little black cats - Luckily I got a bunch at a quilter's yard sale at $2 per yard - of the good stuff.

So I decided to "USE IT UP" (The Halloween portion of the cat stash, that is - for the most part...)

I mentioned the yard sale, so I got some good sized pieces...Those that I could, I turned into fat quarters.When at the LQS, I purchased fat quarters - after chopping out a cat - they were obviously no longer fat quarters - but I digress...When in shops that do not cut fat quarters, I usually bought 1/2 yards - so I could have a fat quarter - I finally started to get long quarters - I am not so happy with those pieces - they are not very "useable" IMHO.

ASIDE: My GF is a Halloween fan, so I traded some non-cat halloween print fat quarters with her for my fat quarters minus a cat charm. So we get the variety without the expense - win-win. (Hey I know about "win-win" before I even step into my Negotiations class - next Tuesday.)

Here are the results of my efforts:3 Halloween quilts.Back story... I decided to do YBR (I regularly mess up that pattern...) This time, my first fat quarter I cut the "wrong way."I cut the rest the "right way" but some of the fat quarters were fatter than necessary, so I had strips left over. I also had long quarters - so I had strips there as well & I had fat quarters that were missing a cat, so I was able to make strips from that as well, but I am getting aead of myself....In the begining I was going to make a Queen sized quilt...But then I realized that you use more fabric making 2 twins - so I changed the plans mid-stream.Then I realized that in the quest to get "X" number of different cats for the cat charm quilt, I got a scary Halloween print.

So I started to sort....I have never liked the YBR block that has the two big rectangles - so I set them in Pile "A" with all of the scary prints. I started Pile "B" with the prints that I actually like. Then I counted...I needed more blocks, so I turned the "extra" long skinny strips into Rail Fence blocks. I put most of them into Pile "A" - (I was going to send that quilt out to charity & wanted it big enough for a tall guy.) Pile "B" needed more blocks - so I cut big squares out of some of the fat quarters that were missing a cat & out of some prints that did not make it into the "USE IT UP" pile for one reason or another.

& then they sat....

So the two piles sat on the arms of my arm chair... (My husband requested that I clean up Studio 2B a bit...)

So I counted again & made the Pile A into an 8x8 arrangement.I then counted Pile B & "thought" that I needed a few more big squares....I ended up with 60 - 6 x 10 was too skinny & long. So I made it 6 x 8 & decided to use the last 12 to make a baby sized quilt. Pile B & the baby quilt will get a border (eventually).

If you got this far (thanks)back to CAT

cat-egory:Asian - I think I may have found someone who will love & use my Asian fabrics, you see I am not so fond of the ones that I used to really like - now that I am in like with Taupe. (But I do have a few UFO's out of the older stuff to satiate my desires when they arise to use them.)

Pieced cat quilt - I need to get back to it now that I have a great border idea and know how to write "Cat" in a lot of different languages...

Appliqued cat quilt - I need to get back to that as well, maybe on the plane to Houston? Israel? The Caribbean? Lets just say that if I am not finished with it by the end of February - I have a lot of explaining to do...

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Mary has been on a roll making Chinese Coins quilts. (Just one example of many...)

One of my first quilts to get long armed was a Chinese Coins quilt called "Pile of Sheckels" - sorry no photo...

I thought I was going to make this into a Chinese Coins quilt too,

but a few things got in my way...

1. cutting the strips to separate the pieced rows. (I need to do that for another pile of freshcut rows)2. the piles would be on their sides...3. well the first one was the main one...

Adding the squares and long pieces was on purpose - a design element if you will...

So I just sewed them up as they are last night...

I am happy enough with it even if it is not as I envisioned (I was going to say planned - but if you haven't figured it out yet - I don't plan much....) it.

(I might add 1 more row - I trimmed as I pieced the rows together & I had some squares and long pieces that did not make it into this mix.... I guess it depends on how well the remainders play together.)

Just a sneak peak of two of the corners on my cat charm quilt. I obviously need to press and trim these (I need to trim all of the setting triangles as I piece them...) This is about 1/10 of the prints in this project - the quilt will be a king sized quilt - I think...

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

One of my most current tops - Yes, I cut into & sewed up some of my taupes! (I pieced several tops last week while I was off from work between classes.) This top has 15 x 16 tumblers. It was near as hard to cut or piece as I was anticipating. :o)

I need some advice on quilting - I want to do clam shells. The tumblers are about 1 inch tall - should the clam shells be tiny as well? = keeping the scale similar.

(I am thinking of tracing a Snapple juice lid & using that as the circle size? Too big? - I don't really want to go down to a US Quarter size - but I am thinking that that might be closest scale wise....)

I have been away for a while... I have only just finished looking through Flickr at all of the lovely quilty stuff that has been going on... Next up is to open my bloglines.... I can't imaging how many posting are waiting in there... :o)

thanks for all of the help with cats and snow. FYI I am going to use those on two different quilts - free pieced letters spelling cats as a border for a pieced cats quilt & embroidered snow in may languages on an abstract quilt of snow - abstract, because I used a lot of white, cream, tiny bits of black on white prints - because snow is always dirty & messy - so this will be more real that most quilty depictions of snow - I am saving that for the back!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

I just got my partner for the Fall Doll Quilt swap. Luckily I got "Quilter's Choice" again. I am falling back on a favorite stand by of mine - Charm quilt. This time I am using rectangles. I am only feeling a tad bit guilty for working on a new Fall quilt - while I have a UFO languishing... But I am using my Nickel Charms for the charms, so this will be 100% from the stash.

I need some help...I need to know how to "say" actually spell cats & snow in as many different languages as possible - for two different quilt ideas. I would prefer the English transliteration - like Neko for cat instead of the Kanji "Japanese characters" version.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

1. I got the Hancocks of Paducah catalog & drooled while my cats napped on my lap. :o)2. I decided to look at my Bleeker Street bundle & compare it to what HoP has available - when did I become so damn matchy-matchy - that used to be a bad word in my quilting...3. Took Aviary back to the cutting table with the pattern (so that I could use the scraps for something else - yes, I am THAT bad.)4. decided to look for the sewing machine attachment that allows you to sew a nice circle.5. Granted I know that I never got around to putting that away where it belongs - but I could nto find the "where it belongs" bag to make sure... when I found the bag, it was not in there. Luckily I found my charms while looking for the attachment - they were kind of where they belong... I finally found the attachment & sewed some charms to the fusible interfacing last night - correctly no less - HAPPY! HAPPY!6. Since I took so long finding the attachment, I never got around to checking the Bleeker Street.7. I never got around to cutting thr Aviary - because I had to sew the other charms first anyway...(the last three items are what "figures.")8. I am so glad that the HoP catalog was not my first exposure to Joel Dewberry - the pictures do not do it justice....9. I really really want the brown/orange Aviary collection...

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

I have a sidenote too - This movie & this movie are both worth watching! For different reasons obviously...

I was going to share little piles of blocks and or fabrics, but I was so tuckered out after class last night nothing much was happening... 1 more class to go & my summer classes are officially over! (I'll skim over the fact that my group gives a presentation tomorrow night. But my idnividual presentation last night went well - I think/hope.)

I worked on my Use It Up Halloween quilt this weekend. (BTW Who am I kidding with that "Use It Up" bit, I am only using a lot - & I gave away a lot, but that still leaves a lot...)

I am doing a YBR quilt - & I am officially the only person alive who can screw up a simple pattern over an over!

While I am at the Atkinson Designs website, I thought I had this booklet: Take Two, I was wrong, or I can not find it.

Too bad, because I was going to add another project to my ever growing list... a quilt quite similar to this one by Gone Aussie Quilting. She used Metro Blue, & I used Metro blue for a Zipper Quilt, but I got a jade green group that has the metro blue look (BLEEKER STREET)... I may use them in an Allegro quilt instead.

What is Jade Green's color compliment? What would "look good" but not be obvious like white to use with jade green? (Thinking on what to use where the designers used white....)

Back to the YBR screw up. I cut the first fq the wrong way.

(My last YBR, I cut them all the wrong way before I caught on...)

Some of my fqs were way wide - as in I was able to get an additional 3.5 inch strip out of them...

According to the pattern you need 30 for a queen sized quilt, I had 31 or 32... But you need 18 for a twin, so I thought, "Make two quilts one to keep & one to give away." You are probably aware of the fact that I will need a few more fqs or blocks... (18 x 2 = 36, not 30, 31, or even maybe 32)

So I sew up everything according to the directions, more or less - I made funky 4 patches, instead of 2 squares on top of a two unit rail fence, but the measurements end up the same any way, so I left them.

Since I cut the first fq the wrong, way, many of you know that I did not have enough fabric to make the second skinny cut as needed, no problem, because I had wide fqs and was able to just use a 3.5 inch strip.

Back to needing more blocks.... I had enough extra strips (I also stripped a couple other fabrics) to make several (12) rail fence blocks, that fit the 9.5 inch square dimensions as needed. :o)

I also cut 9.5 inch squares of fabric, too - just because.(Well just because I had two glow in the dark cat halloween prints, that I really wanted to use, but I only had a fq to begin with & everyone knows where 3.5 inches of all of my cat prints are located... - next to the fabric that still needs to become setting triangles.)

So now I am ready to divide & sew blocks into a couple of quilt tops. :o)

I also trimmed on my template quilt & I did a bit of hand quilting.

I FORGOT...For those of you who have Amy Butler's book In Stiches, I am doing the quilt that you can see if you do the search inside thing on Amazon on page 14 using my turquoise Joel Dewberry Prints. I spent an afternoon labeling the different fabrics... The directions call for 9 one yard pieces, I have 18 fat quarters... (I added a bit for the bigger pieces). With my left overs, I hope to do the circles pillow (as a small quilt) that you can see on the couch on the cover. And a charm quilt or two like the one that was blogged about at the top of this post. :o)

1 more thingtake a look at the quilt in this picture. I know it is hard to see for the cute ginger kitty, but do you see the circles, & how they are touching each other? This is what I am doing with Katie Jump Rope & other prints on a chocolate background. I got a light weight fusible interfacing to help with my applique - now to find my sew in a circle foot for teh sewing mcahine....

Friday, August 03, 2007

I took 57 photos at the show & I would love to share more of them here...

I don't have the time to insert the photos in to 1 or 2 posts & I am not 100% happy with the blogging from flickr option either - 1 picture at a time...

I am sure many of you figured ou that if you clock on the link under the photo (Picture 34, for example) that it will take you to flickr - you can & probably have seen the photos there...

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I only have 2 more blocks to cut and piece for my husband's anniversary quilt. Then I have an applique idea... Unfortunately, I need to trim them to the template - that is the tedious part, but not to tedious apparently, as I have started on version number 2 of the pattern... I had the fabrics bundled & waiting, so I decided to trudge on through.

My cat charm quilt is patiently waiting for me to cut the setting triangles... (I may skip the corner triangles.)

I am piecing two quilts for 2 different gf's -I need to get hopping on both of those.

I want to work in taupe - can someone send the message to my rotary cutter?

(I am thinging that I may write the names of my quilt ideas on scraps of paper & pull to figure out what to do next... Too many ideas swimming in my brain.)

Another Doll quilt - needs to be done too... (But that has been in progress already. :o)

I am tempted to work on the Fall doll quilt, but I want to wait to see if my partner has any requests...

After the show here is what I wrote:"I am still not 100% sure what it is about this quilt that I like so much... I never would have though to put Jewel box with winding ways, but I love how that was done here - especially how they transition was handled."

My feelings haven't changed.

I also love the colors - how the jewel boxes are scrappier that the 2 fabric winding ways blocks...

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

By: Pamela Heim of Arlington, VA. Part of a guild challenge. I premember the challenge from the Northern Virginia Quilt show - I am always drawn to quilts that use a lot of block and white prints... i am a bit value challenged, but even I can see the lights, mediums, and darks in this type of quilt. :o)

Now to use my own collection... I love the way she used the orange/yellow "solids."

Would this design work with completely scrappy colors? By scrappy I meant the colored parts - I would keep the black & whites. I have a lot of black & white prints :o), so I was contimplating on how to use them... I was questioning about using a rainbow of bright prints in lieu of just oranges/yellows. I was also thinking about using a multicolored print with the black and whites.